11/1/13

I have some wonderful shots of seals.
These seals know that the fishermen clean out their boats after loading the days catch, and they wait, patiently for the chum scraps to come out the end of the boat.
If you look closely, there is a smart seal, that sits right next to the water shoot and catches all the chum.
Greedy (but smart) little guy.
The seagull sitting on the back kills me!
Looking at me for treats.
See the one right under the water shoot? He knows what he's doing.
Photos taken in chatham, ma.

Being a huge tea lover, Harmless Harvest 100% Raw Tea recently sent me a nice care package of their new raw tea
to try. Have you tried these? Wow are they good. Just 100% raw, clean, healthy tea.
No crap, no fillers, no aftertaste--just honest to goodness tasty tea.
True all natural flavors of: raw honey-lemon, raw peppermint, and unsweetened.
What is raw tea? Picked fresh tea leaves, never dehydrated, and then blended into chilled water. Kept cold, kept fresh. Where are they? They can be found in almost all Whole Foods Markets located next to their raw coconut water.
Follow Harmless Harvest on Facebook to see where they are holding tasting samples at your local Whole Foods Markets.

Cookbook Giveaway!

The Simply Raw Kitchen by Natasha Kyssa is donating a book to giveaway!
You might remember me talking about the abundance of creativity that I found looking through this cookbook. I was so amazed at how one can get so creative with raw foods!
From The Simply Raw Cookbook:
"....The road to good health through proper diet and nutrition can lead down many paths; you may ask yourself, should I go vegan? Follow a gluten-free regimen? Should I eat raw or cooked foods? Natasha Kyssa offers all that and more in this inspiring collection of mostly raw, whole-foods recipes that will improve your health, no matter what your age. Natasha is a former international fashion model who transformed her unhealthy lifestyle by turning to raw foods almost twenty-five years ago; she is now a raw foods consultant and restaurateur who also runs marathons in her spare time. Natasha promotes a balanced, flexible diet designed for individual constitutions and based on fresh plant foods—gluten-free, toxin-free, and simply delicious. Her regimen also takes into consideration older folks and others who cannot tolerate an all-raw diet by including cooked foods. It's a cookbook and lifestyle guide to be shared between generations, much like Natasha and her mother, who contributes vegan versions of central European classics like borscht, mushroom goulash, cabbage rolls, and lovage dumplings. Other recipes include raw soups, cakes, and puddings, as well as a raw Pad Thai and spaghetti bolognese."

To enter the giveaway:*leave ONE comment telling us what your favorite raw food dish
*please have a valid email in your comment and/or signature line
*anonymous comments will be deleted
*drawing held 11/8/2013

Massachusetts Residents:
help sign the repeal the automatic gas tax TankTheGasTax.org
Do you know that there is going to be an automatic annual increase in the gas tax? How can that be?
This summer the legislature passed into law a linking of the gas tax to the Consumer Price Index! That means as inflation rises so does the Massachusetts gas tax. It is the gas tax to infinity and beyond.
Worse yet, it is taxation without representation. Legislators never have to vote again to raise our taxes, but our taxes will go up! What if the CPI goes down? You will still be paying 24 cents per gallon! The legislature capped the minimum you will pay, but they did not cap the maximum we will all pay at the pump.
This tax increase is directly aimed at the working poor and middle class. It will not only increase the cost of commuting to work, but it will also hike up the costs of food and clothing.
Remember, 24 cents is just the state’s gas tax. It doesn’t include the federal gas tax.
How do we end this taxation without representation?
We pass a ballot question in November 2014. The first step in the process is collecting 100,000 signatures. Will you help us? We need people to collect signatures and to sign our petitions.tankthegastax.org

I am so making those caramel apples! I've made them twice to less than perfect results so hopefully it will be the best. Love the seals! The only reason I wouldn't make kale chips in the microwave is that it can kill nutrients. Great links as always!

I have been loving my thinly sliced dehydrated oranges. OMG. They are to die for. I bought some of these: http://www.bellaviva.com/organic-dried-oranges-slices, but now I make my own. That book looks awesome.

about vanilla sugar blog

Unique eats, creative recipes, as simple as possible.What drives me to create? Seeing dishes in restaurants, meals created on TV, recipes in cookbooks/online, and I always think to myself why didn’t they add this or why did they leave out that? Love to question, love to research, and love to learn about combining different flavors and textures in recipes.Recipe creations please email: vanillasugarblog@aol.com